Kitty Neale 3 Book Bundle. Kitty Neale

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       Chapter Twenty-Five

      Amy was looking out for Carol as she walked along Lavender Hill after work on Saturday. They came from opposite directions, and often bumped into each other, Amy now waving an arm as she saw Carol walking towards her. ‘Hello,’ she said as they met up. ‘Your hair looks nice.’

      ‘I’m going out with the boys tonight, and though the salon was busy one of the stylists quickly put it up for me.’

      ‘How’s your dad? It must have been awful for him to get chucked out of his house like that.’

      ‘It was his own fault,’ Carol said without any sign of sympathy. ‘He should have got a job and paid the rent.’

      ‘I suppose he’s living with you and your brothers now?’

      ‘No, he isn’t with us. He turned up looking for money last night, and once he got his hands on a few bob he buggered off, which is just as well because there’s no way I’d live under the same roof as him again.’

      Amy supposed it was because Carol’s father was a drunk, but it still seemed so hard and she asked, ‘So where is he now?’

      ‘I’ve no idea, though I’d guess that he’s sleeping rough somewhere with the rest of the down and outs.’

      ‘But that’s awful,’ Amy exclaimed. ‘Aren’t you going to try to find him?’

      ‘No, I’m not, and if you knew what my father did to me, you’d understand why. Now I’ve got to go, so bye for now,’ Carol said, abruptly walking off towards her brothers’ flat.

      Amy was left bewildered. She knew that Carol’s dad had turned into a drunk, but now it sounded as though something else had happened to turn her against him. With no idea what he had done, Amy was left to wonder as she continued on her way home.

      Carol stomped upstairs to the flat. Her brothers were at home, only working overtime on the occasional Saturday, and Paul cocked his head as he looked at her, asking, ‘What’s got up your nose? I can see by your boat race that you’re in a strop.’

      ‘I bumped into Amy, and because you insisted that I kept my mouth shut about what Dad did to me, she looked shocked that I don’t give a damn about him being evicted.’

      ‘Give it a rest, Carol,’ said Dave. ‘It happened months ago, but you keep going on about it. We’ve told you over and over again that Dad was drunk, that he didn’t

      know what he was doing and like us, you should give him the benefit of the doubt. We’re worried about him since he shot off yesterday, and though we’ve been having a scout round we can’t find him. We’ll give it another go tomorrow.’

      Carol was still sick with worry, fearing that her dad would one day blurt it out – that he’d tell her brothers about the abortion. Not only that, the thought of having him anywhere near her was more than she could bear. ‘If you find him, don’t bring him here. You weren’t there that night! I was and I’m still having nightmares. I screamed at Dad, yelled at him, told him it was me, Carol, but it didn’t stop him. He may have been drunk, but he wasn’t deaf!’

      ‘You never told us that,’ Paul said sharply.

      ‘Yes I did. I must have done,’ Carol protested.

      ‘No, you didn’t,’ said Dave. ‘You just said he came into your room and that you had to fight him off.’

      ‘Dave, do you know what this means?’ Paul asked.

      ‘Yeah, that Dad lied to us. He must have known it was Carol, but the filthy pig told us he thought she was Mum,’ Dave said, his features now tight with anger.

      ‘Well that’s it. He can rot in hell,’ Paul growled, ‘and he’d better not turn up here again.’

      Carol hadn’t realised that she’d left out some of what had happened that night and felt a huge sense of relief that her brothers believed her now. If they had found their dad and taken him in, she would have been forced to leave, but that wasn’t going to happen now. She loved living with Paul and Davy – loved it when they took her out with them. Her bad mood lightening, she said, ‘Come on, let’s forget about Dad. We’re going to the 2i’s coffee bar tonight and I wonder who’ll be performing.’

      ‘Another lot of hopefuls I should think,’ Paul said. ‘Since that Tommy Hicks was spotted and signed up with Decca, the place is buzzing.’

      ‘He’s СКАЧАТЬ